Wholesale trade fall led by vehicles

Seasonally adjusted total wholesale trade sales decreased 1.0 percent ($219 million) for the September 2008 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. This is the largest quarterly decrease in sales since the December 2005 quarter, and is led by the 11.3 percent fall in motor vehicle wholesaling.

The next largest contributors to the quarter's decrease were falls in petroleum product wholesaling, down 6.9 percent, and primary product food wholesaling, down 3.3 percent. Partly offsetting the decrease was a rise in unprocessed primary products wholesaling, up 5.6 percent.

The total wholesale trade sales trend continues to increase, but has shown signs of easing in recent quarters. The average quarterly increase has slowed to 0.7 percent over the last two quarters. This compares with an average quarterly increase of 1.8 percent during 2006 and 2007.

Seasonally adjusted wholesale stocks for the September 2008 quarter increased 2.6 percent ($300 million), following a 6.0 percent rise in the June 2008 quarter.